While lithium metal has a wide variety of uses in present-day industry, one use which is substantially increasing at the present time is the use of lithium as an anode in non-aqueous batteries. These "lithium" batteries have extremely long life and high energy, and are therefore valuable additions to the battery art. Lithium batteries are, however, substantially more expensive than conventional dry cells and, for that reason, every effort is being made to reduce the cost of manufacturing batteries containing lithium anodes.
Lithium itself is a very light weight soft metal and is, for a metal, highly reactive. For example, lithium in contact with water will react to form lithium oxide and hydrogen gas, presenting a potential fire hazard. Conventional methods for cutting lithium involve the use of knives or dies. Due to cold welding of lithium on the blade at the cutting edge, a clean dry blade developes a build-up of lithium which needs to be removed after only a few cutting operations. It has further been proposed to use lubricants on the blade to prevent contamination by the lithium on the blade. It has further been proposed to use lubricants on the blade to prevent contamination by the lithium on the blade. This, however, results in contamination of the lithium with the lubricant. Lithium which is to be used in a battery must be cleaned, necessitating an additional step in the manufacturing process.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a method for cutting lithium which permits repetitive cutting in the simplest possible manner.
Another object of this invention is to provide a device suitable for cutting lithium metal into a plurality of pieces wherein neither the lithium nor the knife blade are contaminated by contacting each other.
Other objects will appear herein.